~

"Torao you ok?" Luffy tilted his head looking at Law who seemed like he would throw up and fall over. They were both at the airport, waiting for Law's friends.

"Yea, just dreading those guys getting here." Law slumped further in his chair, the plane had landed a few minutes ago so there was still time till he had to meet his idiots.

"Why?"

"I don't know how they will behave- actually I do know, I mean I can guess..." Law started then sighed when he realized he on his way to rambling. "They don't have verbal filters and they get overexcited and since you're my first ever boyfriend, I don't really know how those guys will react in person. So, I am dreading all that, they might say something that makes you curious about other things and then we might have a problem on our hands and-" Law cut himself off. "Sorry, the anxiety is taking over."

"It's ok, we'll see as we go." Luffy took Law's hands in his and rubbed them to help soothe the older's worries. He had asked Chopper about ways to help someone with problems that Torao had and his reindeer friend had told him about so many things Luffy could do to help.

'We'll see as we go' was a philosophy in life that Law absolutely loathed since he was a man of plans and liked to know about everything before jumping into things but being with Luffy, knowing him for as long as he had, that very philosophy was sort of liberating and freeing, there was no need to worry for the future and maybe since Luffy was with him now, Law really needed to learn to live like him too, at least a little.

"Come on, let's go wait by the gates." Luffy pulled on Law's hand to pull him up and the older followed without much resistance. The both didn't need any signs to help the Flevance three recognize them, Law was tall as fuck so Luffy put his strawhat up there too, Law made a perfect billboard.

"Captain!" Bepo was the first to beam up and Law waved a little then pointed at the end of the pathway, signaling he would wait there.

"Come on." Law tugged Luffy along to the rendezvous point and watched his three friends wheel their belongings to the waiting two. They looked calm but Law knew it was only a matter of time before he was-

"Captain!"

"Captain!" The two human idiots jumped on the surgeon without much regard for how it looked to the other people present.

"Mugiwara!"

"Mugiwara!" Luffy was next in the hug-assault, however, since Luffy was equally energetic all the time, if not more, the hugs were no offense to him.

"Funny guys! Bepo!"

Law wheeled all the luggage in a corner while the four were hugging it out. He was glad it was over for him.

"Do you guys want to eat something or go straight to the hotel?" Law cut through before his friends started questioning Luffy in the middle of the fucking airport.

"I would like to take a bath first." Bepo was the first to say and thus set the plan.

"Alright then hotel first, then food?"

"Sounds good to me." Penguin agreed.

"Luffy coming with?" Shachi asked the youngest in the group.

"Yeah!"

"As if he'd pass any opportunity for food." Law joked.

"So taxi?" Penguin inquired.

"Franky agreed to give us his truck!" Luffy jumped, excited.

"Well Law can drive just about anything." Shachi pointed.

"You guys can settle in the back." Law explained setting the luggage in the back of the truck. There was limited lighting in the parking lot so Luffy had turned the flashlight of his phone on to help the doctor.

"You and Luffy alone in the front?" Penguin wiggled his eyebrows.

Law locked the hatch of the truck and pulled Luffy close to him by putting his arm around the younger. "Of course, boyfriend privileges." Law grinned. Luffy's jaw was close to dropping, this was new to him, Law being open and cheeky. The younger wondered if this had something to do with Torao's friends being here or the lack of public eyes.

"But I wanna sit in the back with him!" Shachi pouted.

"Get your own Luffy then." Law stuck his tongue out and spun the younger around to the truck door before he was snatched.

"Oh god! He's gotten so much worse!"

"And it's only been days!" Penguin agreed to his Orca friend.

"Get in or are you walking?" Law called shutting the driver's side door, turning the ignition. Bepo had already sat down so the two scrambled to get in.

Once on the open road, Law's three friends were busy taking in the sights. Law knew all of them had only ever been to Swallow Island and Flevance, nowhere else so he knew this was all very new to them.

"I'm calling it Luffy Kindgom!" Shachi exclaimed, face attached to the window. "Everything is so bright and sunny like Luffy."

"You called it bro." Penguin agreed.

Law drove at the slowest speed possible to let his friends soak in the surroundings but eventually they arrived at the hotel and Law parked in the basement, they needed the truck for later too. Luffy helped with the luggage while Law led the fellowship to their designated room. It was more of a suite than a room, three floors above Laws' own.

"Ok, so plan?" Law asked closing the door behind him and putting the keycard on the nearby table.

"Now that I am here, I want to sleep." Shachi huffed and dropped himself on the couch.

"But I wanna hang out too." Penguin pushed.

"Bepo?" Law asked.

"Suimasen!" The bear apologized for dozing off standing. "I think sleep would be best."

"Alright then. I am probably staying in too so call me when you guys are ready to go out." Law said to help his friends' conscience for wanting to sleep. "Oh and did you get what I asked?"

"Yapp, blue case." Shachi mumbled sleepily, handing Law a passport book. "Your pass."

"Thanks." Law spotted the blue case and dragged it to the door, stuffing the pass for weird-things-considered-medicine into his pocket. Luffy looked at Law with raised eyebrows when Law was about to leave the suite. "What?"

"You're gonna leave them alone?"

"Uh..." Law turned back to his friends, they were all lazily getting up and moving about, deciding who would take the bath first. "You guys want me to tuck you in?" Luffy snorted.

"No thanks man!" Penguin was the only one who answered.

"See." Law closed the door and left his friends in peace.

"That's not what I meant. Don't you wanna stay with them and talk and stuff?"

"They're all doctors, I don't know how much stress they've been piling up recently so I am actually glad they want to sleep and don't want me to bother them. Plus the flight isn't exactly easy on noobs." Law shrugged on his way to his own room.

"You guys are weird."

"Oh no no, you can't say that, especially when I have yet to meet your friends and by the stories, you guys are exceptionally weirder."

"When do you wanna meet them?" Luffy asked with stars in his eyes.

"Once my idiots get settled a bit? I know they're staying for the week."

"Ok then!"

Both the boys went to Law's room downstairs and planned on where to go out for food later with the three. Luffy suggested the Sim's café but Law wanted that place to remain just for the two of them so they were quickly one option short.

"We can order in." Law suggested, shrugging. "Go out tomorrow maybe."

"Yeah those guys really did look tired."

"Ok so that's up for consideration then." Law got up and found the key to the blue case in one of its pockets.

"Oh yeah what's in there?" Luffy jumped off the couch and crouched to the case on the ground, his interest piqued at Law's boyish grin.

"Something I had my friends bring especially for you."

"What is ittttttt?"

Law zipped open the bag and Luffy's mouth started watering a waterfall. "Specialty meats from Flevance. Some of these are cooked, some I'd leave in the capable hands of Kuroashi-ya."

"Meaaaatttt! Torao you're the best!" Law barely had time to react when Luffy jumped on him, enveloping the older in a tight hug.

"There are other edibles in there too so I'd suggest you take this to your friend before the meat starts going bad." Law picked a few items from the case and handed them to Luffy. "These ones are cooked and preserved so you can snack on them whenever you want."

"Sanji's gonna love this! He's from North Blue too you know!" Luffy jumped, excited and so so happy that Law got him meat and schemed it all so it somehow included Sanji too. Luffy had thought he would feel bitter and small if Torao began to interact with his friends, one of the reasons he was delaying having them all meet, but experiencing this joy now, Luffy knew he would only become happier.

"Oh, where in North Blue?" Law asked, interested.

"He doesn't say but he lived there for a while, he said he was mostly raised here in the East Blue though." Luffy's attention went back to the meat then. "I'll go give these to him then."

"You want me to drive you there?"

"Nah I'll get a cab." Luffy leaned towards an unsuspecting Law and kissed his cheek, giggling afterwards as he got up with the meat in his arms and the case handle in his hand. "Thanks Torao!"

"Be safe."

~

Law knocked on the door of his friends' suite, his arms bundled with snacks and food while Luffy carried the blankets and pillows – Law was the obvious choice for carrying food because if left with Luffy, nothing would have survived the three floors elevator ride. Law's three friends had collectively decided to stay in that day.

"Why the fuck am I knocking?" Law questioned himself then kicked the door open, entering the suite with the warning, "I hope nobody has their pants down!"

"I am into women!" Shachi yelled, embarrassed.

"Yeah me too!" Penguin seconded.

"Female bears for me!" Bepo said at the same time.

"Wow you guys are so defensive about your sexualities." Luffy laughed at the open way Law was joking, the older was even restricted with Luffy so the younger liked the no-barriers Torao he was seeing then.

"Luffy, blankets there." Penguin guided, pointed to the carpeted floor that did not have the blanket layering yet. "Throw the pillows anywhere."

"Cap." Shachi beckoned and Law followed his friend to the kitchen where they both arranged the food into proper plates and bowls. Law wondered why the suite even had so much crockery.

"I'm gonna go get the things for tea." Law said and quickly got the tea leaves and milk, put them in the refrigerator and joined everyone in the living room where they had pushed the couches back and set up a cozy blanket-pillow-floor around the coffee table. The table was round so there were no table-corners and sides dividing anyone. The circle started from Law to Shachi on his left, then Penguin, then Bepo and finally Luffy on Law's right.

"Law when was the last time you took a bath man?" Shachi asked sniffing his friend.

"Three days maybe, it's getting bad?" Law sniffed himself and shrugged. "It can go another three days."

"That's bad!"

"I can't smell anything." Luffy said munching on chicken.

"That's because your nose is used to you being worse than me." Law joked and elbowed Luffy.

"Dadan washed me hours after you, so I am still fresher." Luffy pointed like it was a competition.

"Washed." Law chuckled in his fist.

"Share!" Penguin demanded shielding his fries from Luffy.

"His mother-figure," Law started and stirred his drink casually with the straw, "she hosed him down in the middle of the street, like a fucking dog." Penguin laughed and Bepo patted Luffy to make him feel better about being laughed at.

"Maybe we should do this with you too." Shachi wondered looking at Law.

"Flevance doesn't have much graveyard space so make your mistakes carefully." Law threatened smirking then slumped and took a bite of his rice. "I actually want a long, warm bath, maybe I'd have one now that you guys are here."

"Why not have Luffy stand guard?" Penguin asked and ducked when Law glared at him. "Right, newness."

Hearing Law talk about a warm bath and implying that he could have one because his friends were around now, something clicked in Luffy's brain. "Torao what did you mean by it that time when you said these guys had to fish you out of the tub?"

Law raised an eyebrow at the very specific question then remembered that he did say something like that when he had asked Shachi to clean Luffy up when the younger was under his care. Law turned a little red at the recollection and the implications. Law's human friends caught on that. They pushed the surgeon down on the table and rested their arms over his back to prevent him from getting up before they had successfully revealed Law's secrets.

"He falls asleep in warm baths-" Penguin started.

"Like in three seconds!" Shachi followed.

"And can drown in the tub-"

"He's not allowed to take warm baths alone."

"It's usually Bepo who keeps an eye on him-"

"He doesn't trust us to not snap photos."

"Because you will!" Law exclaimed pushing the two back and glaring at them with the smallest of pouts. "And don't give him sensitive information!" Luffy laughed at the display.

"Whaaaat??? I thought you two were together!" Shachi gasped.

"Yeah yeah! He needs this information so he can keep an eye on you!" Penguin defended.

"The entire you-"

"In the bath-"

"With see-through water~!" Penguin and Shachi sang in tune. Law hid his head behind his hands, he was mortified.

"Mugiwara, it gets serious sometimes, do you have experience with resuscitation?" Bepo joined in.

"I can learn." Luffy replied now starting to drop the carefree attitude. This was indeed serious.

"But will you be able to perform that when there is an unconscious very naked-" Law smacked Penguin shut.

"Not another word." Law threatened then turned to Luffy. "Don't pay it any mind. It doesn't happen that often."

"But... what if I wanna go to the hotsprings with you?" Luffy asked, the idea just popped in his head.

"One, public. Two, bath. Three, public bath. So never." Luffy pouted.

"What if I book the whole thing for us?" Luffy asked stars in his eyes and Law had to tilt a little backwards because of the intensity of it. Penguin and Shachi made kissing noises behind Law.

"You'd both be eating your own fried penises tomorrow morning if you don't shut up." Law threatened and they fell quiet, for the time being. This was exactly what Law was afraid of when his friends had decided to visit, the casual, joking banter that would reveal so much about Law. The older turned back to Luffy then. "That'd be a waste. I will really fall asleep."

"So no hotsrpings..." Luffy wondered.

"Ok a correction, baths in general make me sleepy. Cold showers keep me on my toes so they are ok but the moment the water's turned off, the tiredness creeps up. Guess I'm just weak to water." Law shrugged, elaborating.

"He can't swim either!" Penguin said before Law could quieten him, oddly the surgeon didn't.

"Oh yes that is a real concern." Law agreed.

"I can't too." Luffy said shrugging. Both the boys stared at each other before Law grabbed Luffy by the shoulders. There were kissing noises in the back again and Luffy was just staring, to see what Law would do.

What nobody expected was for Law to start shaking Luffy violently.

"Why the fuck do you have a ship then?! And why the fuck do you sail in deep, violent, crazy waters?! Why the fuck do you sit on the railing for fishing?! Why if you fall?! You can't swim?! Do you have any sense of self-preservation at all?! Goddammit Luffy!!"

"Oh I've fallen in the sea plenty of times!" Luffy exclaimed cheerfully and Law's hands slipped from his shoulders, going to support his head while his elbows rested on the table. He was mumbling something nobody could understand. "Zoro and Sanji always jump after me, they always get me out. You should come with us next time Torao! It'll be fun!"

"No. No. Nope. Not a chance. Never. N-"

"Ok it's decided! You're coming!"

"Don't let him take me on a ship." Law told Bepo, grabbing at the mink's arms over Luffy's head. "I can only trust you."

"Hey!" All the remaining humans exclaimed in chorus.

"Suimasen!" Bepo being Bepo, apologized.

"I don't mean to say that I don't trust you, I don't have fond memories of being on ships... or boats..." Law said scratching his arm and looking at the table. Everyone fell quiet.

"Then I'll change that." Luffy said simply, causing Law to look at him.

"Of course you will. You're a storm in your own right." Law smiled ruffling Luffy's hair.

"Awwwhhhhh~" All three of Law's friends cooed and the moment was over.

"Bepo, you've betrayed me." Law said hand on his heart, faking pain.

"Suimasen!"

"Torao you don't hide with your friends." Luffy wondered watching the exchange.

"Of course. These three were my new beginning so they know everything." Law said helping himself to more rice and passing some chicken to Penguin.

"But even I don't know everything."

"Yet."

"Oh yeah! How did you even meet them?!" Luffy jumped in his place, excited to know about it since Torao's face had softened at the mention of the three being his new life.

"Now that's a story." Law said, a grin in place.

"Oh boi." Penguin hid behind his hat.

"Embarrassment incoming." Shachi sighed.

"Don't omit a thing." Law warned smirking at the agonized faces of his friends.

"Ok so we were both orphans-" Shachi started.

"And his aunt and uncle made us drug runners." Penguin followed.

"So we were pretty young back then, I mean not younger than Law, he was thirteen then by the way, or Bepo, who was nine."

"So Bepo,"

"I fell off Zunesha, my home country, the giant ocean-walking elephant, when he was passing through Swallow Island. I wanted to go out to look for my lost brother but I found myself on that snowy island." Bepo put in.

"Theeeeenn what happened?" Law asked like an annoying kid, grinning, already knowing the shame that was going to fall on them.

"We found Bepo, a small talking polar bear," Penguin breathed, wanting to avoid this part.

"And we..."

"We..."

"You whaaaaaat?" Law pushed, dragging the sounds.

"We bullied him."

"We bullied him."

"Oh no! Such brutes!" Law continued and Luffy was torn between laughing at Law's actions and feeling sad for Bepo. "Thennnn what happened?"

"Then this little shit comes." Penguin said pushing Law's hat in his eyes.

"And fights us!"

"Kicks our asses!" Law smiled to himself that they left out the part where he was sick as fuck and weeping for Cora-san.

"And saves me!" Bepo hugged Law with Luffy in the middle.

"A good old scientist named Wolff had taken me in at that time. I did chores and sometimes helped him with his creations in return for staying. I took Bepo with me and told Wolff he'd be staying too." Law supplied the context.

"Awh Torao, you're a softie." Luffy also hugged Law while Bepo was already doing so too.

"I am not!" Law countered.

"Anyway, now we didn't know anything about that and continued our jobs." Shachi restarted.

"Until that fateful day."

"Wolff was out of town for some time so Bepo and I went out to gather some wood. We were nearing a blizzard at that time." Law continued providing the context.

"We were in the forest he was passing to collect firewood."

"And..."

"BANG!" All four of them said at the same time. Luffy opened his mouth in excitement.

"There was an explosion in the forest." Penguin began.

"Blast impact sent us all the way out towards where Law was."

"And my arm had gotten blown apart because of it."

"And you know me, when I see someone like that, I just have to help." Law said, hand on his heart again, gasping and faking sweetness. Luffy giggled knowing that more than half of it was true.

"Yeah, so he takes us back to where he's staying, ok so he's thirteen right." Shachi pointed for the effect.

"And he fucking sews my arm back." Penguin emphasized.

"Oh yeah you told me that back when." Luffy nodded.

"Yeah, look," Peng pulled his sleeve up and Luffy saw the scar. "Ok so between recovering and figuring out what to do,"

"We end up telling Law our tragic background."

"And he adopts them too." Bepo said smiling.

"Wolff came back to four kids in his house." Law said smiling fondly while his friends cackled at the recollection. "He said as long as we all pulled our weight, we were ok to stay."

"But Law was leaving the next year for his own reasons," Shachi said.

"And we were pretty whipped that he was so strong," Penguin sighed in an exaggerated way. "So dreamy,"

"So we followed him."

"And became my constant headache." Law shook his head.

"Oh like you are any easier to deal with." Shachi pushed, pointing fingers.

"Yeah with you not wanting to take a bath like a brat,"

"Or not eating like a brat,"

"Or leaving your hair wet,"

"Or us having to resort to using Bepo to get you to sleep,"

"And don't get me started on how he gets when he is sick!"

"Oh god, such a pain in the ass!"

"Well it is the unspoken rule that the older should take care of the younger." Law defended himself.

"But would it kill you to eat bread when you're actually starving and might die?"

"Oh yeah, Luffy, there was a time when we were traveling on the sub, it was just the four of us." Penguin gathered Luffy's attention.

"Wolff gave me the Polar Tang when we left." Law cleared.

"Yeah, so Law had gotten sick, it was a plain cold but god! And so we were a little inexperienced with planning and shit and the next island was days away!" Shachi began with the story.

"And we only had bread left in the storage,"

"And he won't eat it!"

"He decided to starve his already sick body."

"What gluten would have done to me at that time was worse than starving." Law shrugged.

"But you had anti-allergic shots in the reserve, you could have used those." Bepo pointed.

"I was the only one who knew how to administer those at that time and I didn't want to leave it to chance that I would be well enough to do it myself."

"So you starved for days?" Luffy asked, shocked at how someone could go on without food for days.

"I did." Law nodded.

"Then at last we got to the next country and immediately bought food and fed this idiot first." Penguin shook his head.

"And his nerve! He kept glaring at us through it all!"

"We were basically headless chickens, we didn't know how to take care of a sick person!"

"Yeah so we were constantly worried about doing something wrong." Shachi pulled at his hat.

"He was a little kid,"

"And he was thin and small for his age so we were already worried about that,"

"So imagine us when this kid, we have decided to think of as our own blood, gets sick!"

"And shows no signs of getting better for days!"

"Then doesn't eat for days!"

"They were aging visibly." Bepo said.

"Then he got better," Penguin sighed in relief.

"And we could finally breathe."

Law looked at the two with a bit of surprise. He knew they had panicked when he was sick but he didn't know they were actually that worried about him.

"So are you guys not worried when Torao is with me, here in Goa and you guys are in Flevance?" Luffy asked innocently.

"Well we trust you," Shachi played cool.

"And he's grown up now,"

"He can take care of himself,"

"Yeah we are ok."

"They didn't sleep the entire first week Law was here." Bepo whispered to Luffy, loud enough that everyone heard.

"Bepo!"

"Bepo!"

"Suimasen!"

"Nyahahahahahahahahahha!!! You guys are funny!" Luffy fell back on the blankets and laughed holding his stomach. Law was just silent, all the last information was really new to him, that both Shachi and Penguin thought of Law like their own little brother.

"You guys give me so much shit for not sleeping but you're not really any better, are you?" Law teased.

"We were worried!" Penguin said.

"Yeah! I mean we trust Luffy,"

"But you are stubborn too,"

"So we were worried!"

"Thank you." Law said smiling at his two human friends. The two were awestruck and tearing up at the genuine gratitude. Then Law's face went dark. "As such, I have decided not to dismember you both for sharing all the embarrassing things that you shared."

"Yes!" Shachi bowed.

"Thank you!" Penguin clapped his hands together and prayed his thanks.

The back and forth jokes and conversations went on until the food had long disappeared from the table and the boys had started dozing off, one after the other, the actual purpose of the blanketed floor.

"I like your friends Torao." Luffy whispered, head elevated on an elbow.

"I'm glad." Law said back, closing his eyes, feeling whole and full and very very happy.

"Good night Torao." Luffy kissed Law's cheek again and laid down to finally sleep. The younger had been occasionally giggling at the bits and pieces of embarrassing past Penguin and Shachi had revealed about Law but it was coming to a stop now with sleep taking over his mind. It was nice being surrounded with people like this, his own nakama were an extended family but Torao's family, Luffy came to a conclusion, they were new family.

"Good night Luffy." Law smiled in his sleep and that made Luffy all the happier.

~